Culver City residents and businesses will see an increase in their refuse bills beginning this summer due to a new state law mandating municipalities to implement an organics waste program.
According to City Hall, local businesses residents can expect to see at least a 7% increase over the next three years starting next month.
Organic waste is defined by Cal Recycle as food waste, green waste, landscape and pruning waste, nonhazardous wood waste and food-soiled paper waste that is mixed in with food waste.
On May 30, the City Council approved updating fees for recycling, refuse and organics beginning on July 1 through June 2020. The city mailed notices of the potential uptick in fees last week.
The council will hold a public hearing on the new rate hikes on July 24 at City Hall at 7 p.m. All members of the public are welcome to attend and inquire about the increases.
The last time the city increased refuse rates were in 2015, when they went up 3%.
According to public works officials, the cost of compost organic waste is 50% than for a landfill and the increase is to offset those costs and continue to provide refuse collection services.
There is also an environmental component to the new law and the increases.
California has been a leader if not the nation’s forerunner on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and discharges from the decomposition of organic wastes in landfills have been identified as a significant source of greenhouse emissions that are known to contribute to climate change, according to environmental scientists.
In October 2014, Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law Senate Bill 1826, which requires businesses to recycle their organic waste on and after April 1, 2016, depending on the amount of waste they generate per week.
SB 1826 also requires that on and after Jan. 1, 2016, local jurisdictions across the state implement an organic waste recycling program to divert organic waste generated by businesses, including multifamily residential dwellings that consist of five or more units
The last time the city increased refuse rates were in 2015, when they went up 3%.
According to a 2014 waste characterization study, California disposes approximately 30 million tons of waste in landfills each year, of which more than 30% could be used for compost or mulch.
The new rates can be viewed at http://www.culvercity.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=8164. For add the Public Works Dept. at (310) 253-6400.